“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” —————————————————————————————————————- This online Bible study series addresses primary New Testament words in their original language – Koinè Greek – as opposed to mainly using the English translations; which is like adding color to a black-and-white picture.

Pride ~ Part 2 ~ A Pragmatic Tool ~ Meekness

Introduction (Edited)
Pride is a funny thing, it can hide itself in so many ways.

Simply put, pride is simply “preoccupation with self,” which can be seen either found in grandiosity, or self-loathing, the key aspect is the point of focus which always must be on self.

It is when self must be the center of attention.

Pride, “preoccupation with self” is the opposite of humility, which takes the focus off of self.

Jesus – Our ExamplePerhaps the best display of true humility is seen in the person of Jesus Christ as alluded to inPhilippians 2:5-8, which states:

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Understanding Christ’s humility can be seen in different aspects.

For one, humility is who Jesus is as an individual.

Yet, this is NOT to take away from the fact that Jesus chose to be humble as a free will action that displayed itself in His behaviors.

In one aspect of this choice, in understanding that He humbled Himself under the authority of God the Father is that He witnessed the consistency of the Father in all things throughout eternity, that God the Father is worthy of faith.

FaithJesus, while fully God; gave up His place in heaven to become a man, not only in appearance; but in the limitations of man as well.

This was a choice of exercising faith in God (Faith is a choice, an action; not simply a belief. Belief, which is merely a cognitive exercise, a mental process that by itself will save no one, even as James referred to the devils which believed, yet were not saved ~ James 2:19. Regarding the process of faith see Endnote #1).

Jesus hungered, He thirst, He felt pain, and He desired not to die (This was minimal, what He truly did not want to experience was separation from God – spiritually speaking; as seen in the synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke.); yet He went through all of this based upon His faith in God the Father – Jesus was the author and finisher of faith, as stated in Hebrews 12:2, which states:

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our [“our” is always in italics because it is not in the original text; it is implied by the translator – we should never follow what is added to the text by a translator, ever; because it is not inspired] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This passage states indisputably that we are to look unto Jesus as our example (This is the context that was set-up according to the prior verse, v. 1), as Jesus is the author and finisher of faith, not “our” faith, but of faith!

He Exercised faith more than any other human being, he is not only the one that demands that we utilize faith, he is the one himself who is our example of one that lived by faith during his incarnation (Regarding “The Faith of Christ,” please see the short Endnote, #2 – Below is a link to the full 60 page article concerning “The Faith of Christ”).

This is not speaking of faith in the sense of “the faith,” concerning Christianity as 1)an institution, 2)a belief system, or of a 3)Christian doctrine (It cannot be referring to these aspects faith, because the particular article “the,” is not used, which emphatically proves that this is not speaking about “the” faith in the generic sense as in these three examples, but can only refer to “faith” in denotatively – in a specific sense, in a personal sense as an action in the life of the believer. The faith walk is a lifestyle of dependence upon God, seen in our daily lives, as well as the means of access to God’s grace in salvation; this is NOT in a theoretical sense, as a: 1) Institution, 2) belief system, or 3) doctrine); because the article, “the” is missing.

Jesus – Living by Faith
Concerning the subject of faith; the word for “author“ (Greek: archēgon) more specifically is translated “the originator and first to utilize;” and the word “finisher” (Greek: teleiōtēn) more specifically means “to completely have done and finished what was started“, and works in unison with (Greek: archēgon): both describing Jesus being the originator and best example to have thoroughly demonstrated faith (Regarding the faith of Christ, which to some seems controversial; please see our article entitled: “Jesus ~ The Ultimate Example of Faith” ~ LINK – it is being updated and revised, and will be republished on 3/21/2014).

In attempting to understand the faith and humility of Christ, a good place to start is in the Matthew 11:29, where Jesus spoke concerning himself:

The Word Meek was also used Concerning Moses, when He said Concerning Himself:

“Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3) – Others have done it

The Language Concerning the Word “Meek”In the above scripture (Numbers 12:3), the word translated meek in the English is translated from the Hebrew word, “Anaw,” (Strong’s # 6035).

According to Vine’s Hebrew Dictionary:

“Anaw is translated, humble; poor; meek. Anaw, appears almost exclusively in poetical passages and describes the intended outcome of affliction from God, namely “humility.” In its first appearance [In the Bible] the word depicts the objective condition as well as the subjective stance of Moses. He was entirely dependent on God.”

The Greek Translation of the Old Testament
In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, theSeptuagint (See Endnote #3), the Hebrew word “Anaw” (meek) is rendered into the Greek word, “praios”, which is also the word used for the word “meek” in Matthew 11:29, where Christ refers to Himself.

Moses and Jesus used the same word, regarding themselves.

Law of First Mention
Within Biblical interpretation, referred to as hermeneutics (See Endnote #4); there is a principal referred to as the “Law of First Mention.”

This principle recognizes that within life, as well as literature, things always evolve from simple to more complex.

And that with time words not only become more complex, but they sometimes become distorted from the original meaning, at least as far as our understanding goes.

Therefore, within the Hebrew and Greek languages, going back to the original understanding of the word, which conveys the original intent of a word brings greater clarity than simply relying on the word as it may have become known in a more multifaceted manner; and therefore convoluted in the process.

In a majority of situations words which are used figuratively, were taken from a literal situation.

It is the literal situation that displays original intent, and adds shades of color to what many times is a black and white pictorial of understanding concerning a word.

The Original use of the Word “Meek”Within Classical Greek the first use of this word “praios” (The above mentioned Greek word for “meek”) was in a Greek play about training a certain breed of horse, in particular it concerned a stallion that was very high-spirited, strong, and fast.

In the play, while this breed was known as the strongest of runners, it was also the hardest to break because of their will power.

It was common for the stallions to die rather than allow itself to be broke.

The Stallion
In the play, a very rich man fell in love with a wild stallion that no one could ever capture.

After much work he finally managed to capture the horse, however, no matter what the rich man’s stable master did, he could not break the horse.

He advised the owner to destroy the horse due to its lack of utility and the danger it presented due to its uncontrollably.

The master decided to do something quite different, he would personally train the horse.

He had a giant corral built right in front of his tent, and had the house penned there alone.

This way the horse could watch the owner (And learn to trust him – have faith in him, the way God has displayed Himself in His Word) and become acquainted with him slowly.

Love – An Action – Sacrificially Putting Another First before Yourself
Every day the rich owner would patiently and lovingly visit and speak to the horse while feeding him.

For a year the rich owner only approached the corral without going in and leave the feed just inside the corral, then after talking to the horse quietly he would leave, walking backwards.

The horse would stand in the very middle of the corral, watching all around, and only come close to the fence after dark to feed when no one was around, and then he would eat the grain cautiously.

After this first year the owner finally stepped into the corral, but only in one step, then set down the feed, speak softly for a few minutes, then leave by backing up.

Month after month he stepped one step further in the corral, with the horse never leaving the middle of the corral, not moving back when the owner started to get closer.

It took almost another year for the owner to get within touching distance of the horse.

Then after a few weeks he finally touched the horse softly, and after a few more weeks he could pet the horse quite easily, then he started to bring a bit with him and lay it on the ground while petting the horse.

Faith Gained
On the second anniversary of the horses capture, the owner approached the horse, slowly placed the bit on the horse’s head then went around to the animal’s side and eased on top of him.

The horse did not move, allowing the owner to mount him.

The owner pulled on the reins and the horse responded, figuring out what the owner wanted.

Within a few days the horse responded correctly to every command of the owner.

The horse had developed a devotion to the man in which he would do anything his master commanded.

The horse was known far and wide as the fastest, most powerful animal around.

He would jump any gorge or obstacle his master directed.

He was courageous because of his trust (faith) in his master.

He was not weak, powerless, afraid, or beaten down.

The horse was power in control(Controlled by his master by his own choice – faith must always be a free choice), he was tamed by love, and he was meek.

The master, at great cost to himself (This is what real love is – sacrificially putting someone else first, before yourself – God’s love is seen in His greatest costs, that of sacrificing His own Son. See John 3:16; then see 1 John 3:16 ), slowly and patiently displayed his love for the horse, setting up a situation wherein he could approach the horse displaying patient long-suffering, and in so doing gaining trust and faith from the horse, to the extent that the horse would voluntarily accept the master.

This is a beautiful picture of what God has done for us through Christ.

Tamed by Love, Because of Faith
Meek, which is a synonym for humble,means: contrite, and spiritually poor(Such as in the sermon on the mount, to be “poor in spirit“); is also a synonym for the Greek understanding of the word, “tamed.”

For these reasons, in today’s vernacular it seems more relevant for our usage to employ the word tamed, rather than meek.

The point is that Christ was power under control, He was meek, He was tame, and He calls believers to make the same choice, especially in light of the gracious love that the Father has displayed to us in and through Christ.

Back to Pride
As seen in the humility that Jesus displays, it is because the most superior tool to fight pride is humility; pride and humility cannot coexist together.

Yet humility must be planted first in order to choke out pride; and if pride starts to appear, insert genuine humility to defeat it.

When we find ourselves in a situation where pride starts to present itself, where self puts itself out there “to be seen of men”(As seen in the hypocrites that Jesus spoke of in Matthew chapter 6, 6:2,5); this is where we need to start to take action

Understanding the Disease of Pride
The first thing to understand about pride is its number one function is to hide itself by legitimizing itself in any way possible – none more prominent than in religious surroundings.

For Christians one of the hardest things to do is to admit sin, though it is an everyday part of our lives (See Endnote #5).

It is the denial (One way of observing some of the tools of denial can be seen in the Denial pyramid, see Endnote #6) of sin that is the first issue to deal with.

Denial is seen in two aspects, first the exterior denial to others, and second the devastating internal denial to ourselves.

There is an old acronym concerning denial: “Don’t Even kNow IAm Lying – to myself!

And whereas, this is a paramount problem concerning sin, where it is most devastating is concerning when we continue in demand to lie to ourselves about sin in our lives (Again, see Endnote #5).

Regarding the denial of sin in our lives, we need to habitually go back to God’s Word to see what it says about sin (And remembering that pride was not only the first sin, it is the basis of every sin – If you have not read part one of this series concerning pride, you need to start their before going any further. “Pride ~ Part 1 ~ Its Not as Simple as You May Think” ~ LINK ).

The Correct Perspective of Sin
It is at the cross, on our knees; that we should continually find ourselves – looking up at what Christ went through because of our sins – sin is so bad that Christ had to die, to become sin for us (2 Corth. 5:21).

This is why time after time God has presented object lessons to Israel and to the church to display how bad sin really is.

This is why during the Feasts of Israel, when sacrifice were demanded, the priest actually sprinkled blood on the congregation; men, women, and children (Exodus 24:8).

This is why four days before Passover the father of a household would take a lamb without blemish (Hebrew: tamiym, meaning: “without spot or blemish,” “complete” and “perfect“) and present it to the priest for inspection to be authorized for the sacrifice four days later.

And during these four intervening days the lamb would live in the home where the children and family would become attached to it, only to be forced to witness at Passover its throat being slit, a very bloody sight, again with the children witnessing this savage act (Exodus 12:2-6).

Time after time God illustrates how evil sin actually is, instituting ceremonies and directing actions which seem so cruel and savage in order to teach us through allusions, pictorials, and object lessons; why it was necessary for God to sacrifice His Only Son for mankind, because of the depravity of sin, itself.

Blood and the Gospel
As God first instituted, after man’s fall that the shedding of innocent blood was necessary to provide the skins that were to cover Adam and Eve, which is referred to as the “Atonement” (Genesis 3:21, an “atonement”); it is Christ who shed His blood (The Bible is a book that is filled with blood – because it is filled with sin – and thus the necessity that blood will cleanse sin – yet only the sinless blood of our Kinsmen-Redeemer, Jesus the Christ. See our article entitled: “Kinsmen-Redeemer ~ Part 1 ~ A Brief Introduction” ~ LINK concerning sacrifice and blood, see Endnote #7) by dying on the cross, becoming our covering – not physically removing our sins, which are under the covering; but covering man’s sin from God’s perspective as He looks down upon us.

Believers are seen as sinless before God the Father,
though we are sinful.

Because Christ was seen as sinful on the cross,
though He has always been sinless.

It is in understanding how diabolical that sin is, how it rationalizes itself in so many ways, how it solidifies denial in every aspect of our lives; that we come to understand how pride, the foundation of every sin becomes so enamored in all of our lives (Remembering that pride is the elevation of self – it has its focus on self, preservation is to keep self the focus of attention and exaltation – every sin is because of selfishness, which is self-centeredness, and self-centeredness is simply a longer word for PRIDE).

Follow Christ’s AdmonitionAfter cultivating the attitude of owning up to one’s own shortcomings, admitting one’s own sinfulness, wherein humility begins to grow, after committing yourself to prayer and seeking the power of the Holy Spirit, perhaps the next place to turn in God’s Word in attempting to deal with pride can be seen in Jesus words as found in Luke 9:23,

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

This short sentence entails five steps, that if followed in sincerity and humility will aid in fighting pride in the life of the believer.

1) The first thing to notice is that we are to follow Him, not our own contrivances – we are not to use Christ or the ministry as props to achieve our own goals.

2) Next, We are todeny ourselves by putting him first, and by putting others first – this is the definition of love, to sacrificially put someone before ourselves, and to do so not to be seen of men, in order to maintain the integrity; because otherwise is an act in a display which is manipulation and corrupts love.

3) Next, Take up your cross – we are not to take up Christ’s cross, that is impossible; we are to pick up our own cross. A cross is an instrument of death, what this means is we are to find ways of crucifying ourselves – this is what we been referring to above, it is humility. Humility is the best tool to crucify the flesh, which is to choke out pride.

4) Next, do this daily, not on Sundays when we meet with brothers and sisters; but on Mondays when we stub our toes.

5) Lastly, continue on as you started by continually keep following Christ. It is not an accident that we start by following him, and we end by following him – this is because it’s all about Jesus.

One of the best example of this is seen in the person of John the Baptist.

He constantly directed people to God, and he displayed a servant’s heart always directing people to Jesus.

And he displayed one of the hardest traits that a leader should always display, that of turning his followers over to one that is greater than himself, to Jesus.

How many ministers keep growing churches because they can’t let go of what is not there is in the first place, the parishioners.

There were never any mega-churches in the first century.

When a church got to a place where it was too big to meet the individual needs of people, and a close environment; mature leaders in training would start another church in another location. John had the correct attitude concerning self – kill it – and point to Christ.

And most of all because of having done these behaviors of putting Christ first, he gained an attitude of humility.

It is humility that is the attitude that every believer should strive to obtain; it is because humility displays faith in God, rather than reliance on self.

Conclusion
The way that the believer is to deal with pride is to humble themselves in front of men and God, always keep Christ as preeminent; trusting God in faith for everything in their lives, basing what they say and do firmly on God’s Word.

Endnote1. The Process of Faith

Faith only grows when it is stretched by tribulations (problems, hard times, difficulties, calamities, trials, and testing; they’re all synonymous concerning the “trying of our faith”). Faith can only grow incrementally, as more and more is demanded of it.

This is because trust is a process contingent upon experience, as someone (or in the case of God and His Word the Bible – Rom. 10:17) proves they are trustworthy situation after situation, we trust them more and more.

In this way faith is analogous to a muscle which must be torn before growth can occur.

Therefore, we must always realize and therefore understand that testing is not done as a process whereby God attempts to validate the existence of our faith, or its degree, which might appear cruel on the surface; but that these trials are necessary for faith to grow, and that without these trials, it is impossible for faith to mature ~ James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 4:12.

Therefore, as a believer when you enter trials and temptations, these are your opportunity to make faith choices of choosing God’s Will, according to His Word; rather than your own, wherein the trying of your faith is more precious than gold and will earn eternal rewards far beyond this temporal existence in the flesh.

2. The Faith of Jesus

Greek is a highly inflected language (i.e. the form of words change to indicate the role each word plays in the sentence), a noun changes forms based upon its relationship to other words and how it functions in the sentence. The stem of the noun contains the basic meaning of the noun, but a suffix is added to indicate the noun’s role in the sentence.

The endings are changed according to certain patterns, or ‘declensions’, that indicate what is the number, case, and gender of the noun form.

About Nouns
To “decline” a noun means to analyze it and break it down into its basic parts according to number, case, and gender.

Of these basic parts, the case provides perhaps more information than anything else.

The case form is shown by the ending of the word.

There are four different case forms in Greek, they are Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Accusative.

Concerning the present study we are only going to narrowly look at three of these cases, the Genitive case, Accusative case, and Dative case.

The following 9 Scriptures utilize the Greek word pístis(G4102), which is translated into the English word faith in each of the following Scriptures.

Genitive CasePístis(“faith”) is a noun, and in the cited examples below it is in the genitive case (subjective genitive, notobjective ~ which is the subject of another essay dealing with Greek translations of the Bible) which displays possession within the sentence.

What this means is that in the following Scripturesis that the faith that is being spoken about is possessed by Jesus himself, without equivocation.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our[“our” is not in the original, it is merely assumed and added by the translator, which is why it is in italics]faith [G] …” ~ Hebrews 12:2

“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith [G] of Jesus Christ…” ~ Romans 3:22

“… the promise by faith [G] of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” ~ Galatians 3:22

“…we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith [G] of him.” ~ Ephesians 3:12

“… which is through the faith [G] of Christ, the righteousness…” ~ Philippians 3:9

To reiterate, the above verses mean that the faith that is being spoken about is possessed by Jesus himself, without equivocation – IT IS JESUS’ FAITH!

Accusative Case
In the next Scriptures, the Greek noun pístis(“faith”) is in the accusative case, which displays the direct object of the sentence, and Jesus is in the genitive case; meaning that Jesus possesses the faith which is the direct object of the sentence.

To reiterate, the above verses mean “Jesus” is in the genitive case; meaning that Jesus possesses the faith which is the direct object of the sentence – IT IS THE FAITH OF JESUS!

Dative Case
In the following verse, the Greek nounpístis(“faith”) is in the dative case, which displays the means by which an action is accomplished – meaning that faith is the action which is possessed by Jesus Christ.

“...the life which I now live… I live by the faith [D] of the Son of God [G] …” ~ Galatians 2:20…

The Scripture says that “God is not a man, that he should lie,…” (Numbers 23:19).

However, those that would espouse that Jesus, during His incarnation on earth maintained the attributes of His divine, that of Omnipotent(Meaning: “All Powerful, Visible & Invisible.”), Omnipresent(“being everywhere at the same time”), and Omniscient (“having all and every bit of knowledge that there is, without any limitations whatsoever”); naïvely accuse God of breaking His Word, because here in Philippians (Phillip 2:7-8), unequivocally it states that Jesus became a man in every sense of the word, yet a sinless man.

We must always remember that faith is an exercise of the believer (See Endnote #5), even when in what appears to be a noun form, must be more readily understood as an action, always reminiscent of a verb.

Also, In Greek there are verbal nouns, which are nouns formed directly as an inflexion of a verb or a verb stem, sharing at least in part its constructions (i.e. pistisChristou, subjective genitive).

Biblical Faith; both in obtaining salvation and in exercising the Christian walk, are life changing choices seen as actions and behaviors (See Endnote #5), more than mere mental ascent which is NEVER in view in God’s Word (though it is commonly understood that faith starts as a mental belief that leads to an action, yet when isolated from activity, mental ascent is not enough to stand as biblical faith. And it is God, and God alone who delegates the type of action that is biblical. The thief on the cross displayed biblical faith in words alone, and there are times that the action is an internal process that men may not be able to observe, yet God who examines the heart can see.)

Jesus’ faith was seen in everything that He did and said in fulfilling the Will of the Father.

In fact the faith of Jesus is very obvious, that it was declared by His’ detractors and used in sarcasm when they stated the obvious:

“He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him” ~ Matthew 27:43

The Father and Jesus’ Faith in HimAt this point, discussing the relationship of the Trinity, especially the relationship of God the Father to Jesus would be important to consider.

Christ taught a distinction of persons in the Godhead which He expressed in specific terms of relationship, yet as to its mode is inscrutable and incomprehensible (Luke 1:35; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Matthew 11:25-27; 28:19; 1 John 1:1-3).

There is unity of the One Being of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Accordingly, there is that in the Son which constitutes Him the Son and not the Father; and there is that in the Holy Ghost which constitutes Him the Holy Ghost and not either the Father or the Son.

Wherefore the Father is the Begetter, the Son is the Begotten; the Holy Ghost is the One proceeding from the Father and the Son.

Therefore, because these three persons in the Godhead are in a state of unity, there is but one Lord God Almighty (John 1:18; 15:26; 17:11, 21) and His name is One (Zechariah 14:9).

There is identity and cooperation in the Godhead.The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are never identical as to personage; there is no confusion as to relationship; nor is there division in respect to the Godhead; nor opposition as to cooperation.

Concerning the relationship of the Father and Son:

• The Son is with the Father and the Father is in the Son, as to relationship.• The Son is with the Father and the Father is with the Son, as to fellowship.• The Father is not from the Son, but the Son is from the Father, as to authority.

Hence, neither one of these Persons of the Godhead either exist or works separately or independently of each other (John 5:17-37; John 8:17-19), nor is there division or opposition concerning the Holy Spirit (yet there is less information provided about the Holy Spirit, which is in subjection to God’s Will in regards to the anonymity He holds).

One last point concerning the servitude of Jesus to the Father as seen in exercising faith during the Incarnation, can be seen in Christ prior to the Father the night before He was crucified.

The prayer of Christ the night before he was crucified is recorded in John chapter 17; Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; and Luke 22:39-46.

As recorded in the book of John, the Holy Spirit edits the book in such a way that it does not record Christ prayer concerning himself, only for his disciples and all those that would make up the body of Christ.

If we remember the earlier articles on why the four Gospels were meant to be diverse, the book of John presented Christ regarding his deity is a son of God, and therefore the Holy Spirit edited the book in such a way as to highlight this aspect of Jesus.

The other three Gospels which present Christ as the Messiah of Israel (Matthew), the suffering servant (Mark), and the perfect man (Luke); records Christ prayer concerning himself and what he was about to go through the next day.

All three of these synoptic (meaning similar conclusion every books), record Christ statement which reflects his desire to have this cup taken from him, yet immediately followed by the statement nevertheless thy will be done.

We are told in the New Testament repeatedly that the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), Jesus Christ death, burial, and resurrection from the dead as the atonement to pay for the sins of mankind had been formulated by the Trinity before the foundations of the earth (Psalm 22; John 17:5; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20). The point being is Jesus knew from the very beginning that he would die on the cross for the sins of the world.

And while these three Gospels are meant to display the human side of the incarnation concerning Christ having no desire to go through the crucifixion, it is not the death as a man that he refers to; it is the fact that he become sin and for the first time in all of existence He is separated in spirit from the Father.

Of the seven things that Christ says on the cross, the last thing would appear to be a question in the English, yet it is meant not as a question from Christ, but as a rhetorical device that those people watching him die should ask himself when he stated in the native tongue of those Jews at his feet: “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me.”

It is in understanding based on the other Gospels that we know that just before this statement the Centurion standing next to him had made the comment that surely this was a righteous man.

Which should debate the question that Jesus presents to them, why would God kill a righteous man – and the answer is that he would do so because this righteous man, who was also God in essence; would die for the sins of the world, and as is stated in 2 Corinthians 5:21 which states:

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

What is not seen and these three Gospels regarding Christ and himself within this prayer is what is noticed by the writer of the book of Hebrews, as recorded in Hebrews 5:7, which states:

”Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared”

The Greek phrase which is translated, “him from death,” is not the way it seems based on the English.

The Greek word from has two distinct propositions. In this sentence it would mean “from the edge of,” in the first instance, and ”out from within,” in the second instance.

It is the second instance that is used here.

Whereas in the first instance, Christ would be praying to be saved from death itself on the cross, which is not what he was saying.

In the second instance, it is this reference in the book of Hebrews wherein Christ is not pray to be saved from the edge of the sword, but out of “death” itself; which is a petition concerning the resurrection.

It the resurrection that Jesus speaks about in His prayer to God the Father.

This passage displays Christ praying to God that God would resurrect him from the deadas he had promised in their plans made before the foundation of the earth.

This does not take from the Deity of Jesus Christ, but as the above references points that there is a hierarchy within the Trinity, and that Christ is subservient to the Father, that it is the Father that He prays to in counts on concerning the resurrection of the dead wherein He un-cloaked Himself from the attributes of His Deity, not the essence.

It is the grammar that is embedded deep within the Greek language that displays hidden gems concerning all that God wishes to say to us.

The Deity of Jesus Christ is never questioned in the fact that He disrobed Himself of the attributes, those outside descriptions of miraculous power, un-indie knowledge, and location un-bounding; yet never does Christ lay aside His essence as God, HE COULD DO THAT (For much more on this please see “God’s Essence & Attributes” ~ LINK ).

This is why no miracles were done until He was anointed in the complete fullness of the Holy Spirit wherein the power was the holy spirits power as He referred to before His death would also in power the church after the resurrection.

In fact he stated in John 16:7:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

But why did Christ make this comment that if He did not go the comforter could not in 12 them as he promised in John 14:17, it is because Jesus had the fullness of the Holy Spirit from the day of his baptism until His death as is stated in Colossians 2:9,

“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

Two Other Thoughts Regarding Jesus Exercising Faith
Would Jesus be a hypocrite that would demand of us what he did not give himself, that of living in faith. Or would Jesus hold the power all along in yet act like he had no power.

This is why Jesus never did a miracle prior to his baptism, when he was filled with the Holy Spirit more than any man, and simply asked those things of the father which where the father’s will and the father always answered and did what Jesus asked as seen in the miracles that were done by the fathers according to the faith of Jesus. Jesus was not a hypocrite, he lived what he said.

He demands faith from his followers because he exercised faith more than we ever did. He became a man based upon the limitations of a man, even to the point of death; trusting in God, that God would resurrect Him from the dead, as seen in Romans 10:9,

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Please see the following Scriptures which also state that the father raise the son, which displayed the faith that Jesus had that the father would fulfill all that he had promised to the son concerning the resurrection (Restoring Jesus to His place of honor in God’s throne, until the Second Coming, when Jesus would take His own through on earth, the throne of David as stated in Luke 1:32).

And the Holy Spirit is involved in the resurrection as seen in Romans 8:11; 1 Peter 3:18.

However, Jesus always submitted to the will of the Father, displays the submission to the Father, giving glory to the Father.

Observing the overwhelming Scriptures giving preeminence of the resurrection to the Father, there is no doubt that Jesus exercised faith in the Father fulfilling what He had promised to the Son.

For much more regarding “Jesus ~ The Ultimate Example of Faith” ~ LINK

3. The Septuagint ~ The Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament

The words Septuagint is a Latin word meaning 70, and is used to name this translation due to the amount of translators. With the conquest of Alexander the Great, 332 years before Christ, the Greek world conqueror instituted certain rules over conquered territories which included establishing vassal kings that would do his will, Greek overseers of each kingdom to monitor and guarantee his will be performed, the mandatory use of his own coinage, and the mandatory use of the Greek language as a world language. All of this was done in order to solidify his hold as a world dictator.

As such, after Alexander’s death, he broke his world kingdom into four regions to be ruled by his for top generals. 270 years before Christ, in order to create favor with some of the Jews, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the general who became leader over Egypt which included Israel, commissioned 72 Hebrew scholars to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into the koineGreek language.

Currently, many times when reading a New Testament quotation of an Old Testament passage, there is a direct inconsistency observed.

The reason why there is to be diversity between the two is because the current Old Testament within Protestant Bibles was translated from the Hebrew text, yet Jesus and His disciples quoted from the SeptuagintGreek translation, wherein because of this translation the wording and grammar is somewhat diverse.

Jesus placed His stamp of approval on the Septuagintby using it.

The Septuagintgives us a way of understanding the Old Testament which was written in Hebrew.

The Hebrew language is a very vague language that can have diverse meanings to words dependent upon the application.

Whereas, the complete opposite is true of koine Greek, which is a very precise language which is exact, as it is utilized in the law, medicine, and science.

What this does is this gives the believer the opportunity to read that Hebrew translation in its beauty, flow, and ability to create meaning; while at the same time by reading the Greek Septuagint, the believer has the opportunity to also know exactly what these Hebrew words meant in greater detail in order to conduct word studies with precise, which is what this article is about.

God connects the Old Testament with the New Testament with the creation of the Septuaginttranslation of the Old Testament – just another way that God displays His mastery over His Word – wherein the only conclusion must be is that this completed Book, referred to as the Bible was orchestrated not my man, but by a God who is all-powerful and outsider time domain.

Hermeneutics is the theory of textual interpretation, especially the interpretation of Biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. It is the science of how to achieve proper meaning from the text wherein diverse principles of interpretation come together in order to fully understand the meaning that is meant to be conveyed.

5.The Bible Teaches that Every Human, Believer & Unbeliever will Sin until the Day They Die – This is Daily

1 John 1:8 ~ “If we say that we have [Word: G2192, grammar: G5719 ]no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

The verb: “we have” (echo) is in the:

Present Tense, meaning it is: Continuous Action – Never stopsActive Voice, meaning it is: Subject Causes the Action (Object Receives Action) ~ we choose to do itIndicative Mood, meaning it is: Mood of Certainty – A Reality ~ it is an undeniable factFirst Person, meaning it is: Applies to the Speaker (“I” – “We”) ~ this is to you and IPlural Number, meaning it is: Applies to All ~ it applies to everyone

The verb used before sin in this verse is in the present tense meaning it is an action that never stops. The active voice means that the subject, the person is the one that is doing the sinning. The indicative mood means that this is an absolute fact. The first person means that John is applying this to himself. And the plural number means it applies to everyone as well. This is simply saying that every human being rather believer or not will sin all of their life until death. This does not mean that sin will reigns in the life of the believer as it does in the unbeliever.

1 John 1:10 ~ “If we say that we have not sinned[Word: G264, grammar: G5758 ], we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

The verb: “sinned“(hamartano): [literally means: “to miss the mark”]

Perfect Tense, meaning it is: Completed in the Past, Results in the PresentActive Voice, meaning it is: Subject Causes the Action(Object Receives Action) ~ we choose to do itIndicative Mood, meaning it is:Mood of Certainty – A Reality ~ it is an undeniable factFirst Person, meaning it is: Applies to the Speaker (“I” – “We”) ~ this is to you and IPlural Number, meaning it is: Applies to All ~ it applies to everyone

The word sin is a verb and in the perfect tense meaning it is an action that started in the past, in such a way that it is a complete act, once started never to be ended, hence the idea of Completion. Yet it goes on maintaining results in the present. The active voice means that the subject, the person is the one that is doing the sinning. The indicative mood means that this is an absolute fact. The first person means that John is applying this to himself. And the plural number means it applies to everyone as well. This is simply saying that every human being rather believer or not Has sinned in their life, once begun it will never end, seen as a state of being, a change in the person that is unchangeable regarding the results which are encountered in the present. Sin is an everyday part of the human life, not simply something that is done periodically by a person that is basically good. It is a condition which is innate to man and integral to humans due to the fall. This does not mean that sin will reigns in the life of the believer as it does in the unbeliever.

6. Denial Pyramid

7.Question: “Why did the sacrificial system require a blood sacrifice?”

Answer: The whole of the Old Testament, every book, points toward the Great Sacrifice that was to come—that of Jesus’ sacrificial giving of His own life on our behalf. Leviticus 17:11 is the Old Testament’s central statement about the significance of blood in the sacrificial system. God, speaking to Moses, declares: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

A “sacrifice” is defined as the offering up of something precious for a cause or a reason. Making atonement is satisfying someone or something for an offense committed. The Leviticus verse can be read more clearly now: God said, “I have given it to you (the creature’s life, which is in its blood) to make atonement for yourselves (covering the offense you have committed against Me).” In other words, those who are covered by the blood sacrifice are set free from the consequences of sin.

Of course, the Israelites did not know of Jesus per se, or how He would die on their behalf and then rise again, but they did believe God would be sending them a Savior. All of the many, many blood sacrifices seen throughout the Old Testament were foreshadowing the true, once-for-all-time sacrifice to come so that the Israelites would never forget that, without the blood, there is no forgiveness. This shedding of blood is a substitutionary act. Therefore, the last clause of Leviticus 17:11 could be read either “the blood ‘makes atonement’ at the cost of the life” (i.e., the animal’s life) or “makes atonement in the place of the life” (i.e., the sinner’s life, with Jesus Christ being the One giving life through His shed blood).

Hebrews 9:11-18 confirms the symbolism of blood as life and applies Leviticus 17:11 to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12 states clearly that the Old Testament blood sacrifices were temporary and only atoned for sin partially and for a short time, hence the need to repeat the sacrifices yearly. But when Christ entered the Most Holy Place, He did so to offer His own blood once for all time, making future sacrifices unnecessary. This is what Jesus meant by His dying words on the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30). Never again would the blood of bulls and goats cleanse men from their sin. Only by accepting Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross for the remission of sins, can we stand before God covered in the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Notable Original Work)
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is much different than most people have been taught. Blasphemy is to knowingly lie about another, it is not accidental. It is a deliberate act of the will, that does not fear God, and is not afraid they committed it.

Does James Contradict Paul Regarding Faith
One of the main texts that have been used to assert that works are necessarily a part of faith is taken from James 2:21, which would appear to indicate that Abraham was saved not by faith alone, but when works were added, but this is false.

Eternal life ~ Jesus' Definition of Salvation
Most New Testament passages that define salvation as eternal life. Many believe that salvation is separation from sin, though this is a consequence of salvation, it is not the definition of salvation according to Jesus, who said salvation is eternal life.

Eternal Security – Its About God (Notable Work)
The reason that Eternal Security is so important is because it’s about God – His integrity and ability, rather than the man that is saved. Can God give us to Jesus and can Jesus keep us. Salvation is not about joining, it’s about becoming!

Jesus ~ The Ultimate Example of Faith (Notable Original Work)
Jesus was the greatest example of faith, pleasing the Father in everything He did, trusting in the Father to the other most, committing His human life to God in obedient faith; fulfilling more than any man; what He demanded of His followers – faith.

Judgment Mandated for the Christian Walk (Notable Work)
It is common to hear Christians say “thou shall not judge”, and while this is true concerning condemnation which is God’s realm only, it is false and has been one of the main factors that has led to sin within the church, and it’s Ineffectiveness.

The Problem of Using Strong’s Concordance Dictionary
One thing that many believers do concerning the handling of Greek words is use Strong’s Concordance’s Dictionary to translate Greek words – this is not only a fundamental error, but can lead to devastating conclusions. IT IS ONLY A ROOT DICTIONARY!

What Is Christianity?
The word Christianity is the word Christian plus the suffix “ity” means: “condition or quality of being, the state of.” Simply put Christianity means the state of following Christ, or as Jesus refers to it the condition of being born again (John

Who & What to Trust Encyclopedia (Notable Work)
CAUTION – This will automatically download a .word document when you click on the link. This is the only way I could present this encyclopedia regarding Bible translation & Bible history & dates , Textual Criticism, and Spiritual leaders & m

MOST VITAL ARTICLES

1 ~ JESUS ~ Our City of Refuge
John 5:39 says: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Jesus is found throughout the OT, even in the symbols that God set up such as The Cities of Refuge.

3 ~ Figures of Speech ~ Part 1 ~ A Brief Introduction
Figures of Speech are used in every culture. They are words used in an unusual manner which indicate they are not speaking about something literal, but hold a meaning that is implied, such as “get off my back,” or calling Jesus “the Lamb of God.”

6 ~ Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
The Greek word from which we get the English word blasphemy means to knowingly slander, which is to intentionally lie about something, with no desire to correct the lie. This is one of the reasons why a person cannot unknowingly commit this sin.

7 ~ An Amazing Old Testament Prophecy ~ Genesis Five
Genesis 5 is a genealogy of the first 10 generations of man, and as noted by Chuck Missler when you define the root meaning of the names it literally presents the gospel of Jesus Christ in an un-deniable way.

What Is Christianity?
The word Christianity is the word Christian plus the suffix “ity” means: “condition or quality of being, the state of.” Simply put Christianity means the state of following Christ, or as Jesus refers to it the condition of being born again (John

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This online Bible study series addresses primary New Testament words in their original language - Koinè Greek - as opposed to mainly using the English translations; which is like adding color to a black-and-white picture.